Is it?? My kids aren't teenagers yet but if they were I wouldn't be buying them $400 phones.
iPhones have been shipping with processors a few years ahead of android performance for a while now, and that gives them serious staying power.
TCO is very likely lower for even premium iPhone, and this new model is a steal for the specs.
Not true - I've been using using a $100 Motorola G6 for the past 8 months with no issue. I bought it as a "temporary" replacement when I cracked the screen on my $399 X4 which I had used for 2 years with no issue (silly me, with a price that low I decided to self-insure). I ended up using the G6 as my primary phone because it's pretty good phone and does everything a modern flagship can but with expandable storage via microSD - the only downside is that the camera doesn't take amazing pictures
I’m going to pick up a G6 and see how it goes.
If high end Android phones are usually two years behind iOS in performance, can you imagine how bad a low end or midrange Android phone is?
“You can buy cheap Android but if you go much below $399 you’ll be replacing it a lot more often.”
The Moto G is a cheap phone below $399. It was horribly slow. I was referring to that sentence.
As far as high end phones Benchmarks comparing GPU and web performance for high end Android phones compared to iPhones are readily available.
The iPhone 8 is now two and a half years old and is still faster than any Android phone.
Also, compare the performance of the $329 iPad 6th generation to most Android devices.
My S7 is on Android 8.1. I have a newer Nokia on Android 10. I don't see any meaningful differences. The Nokia has something called "Digital Wellbeing" which I don't use. Everything else, like Fingerprint unlock and stuff like that has been around a few years now.
The hardware makes most of the difference IMO. The Galaxy S7 camera handily beats the cheap lens of the Nokia.
My last iPhone was the old SE and I had to replace it after it got so bent/broken after 2 years that it could no longer be reasonably repaired.
These phones (android or iOS) tend to last ~2-3 years at our household (2 adults & 2 kids, kids don't have their own phones).
I now have a Google pixel 3a I bought at a sale for €300 & it doesn't feel any less quality-wise than my old iPhone did. And unlike the old SE I don't have to suffer the too small screen (I got the SE cuz it was the cheapest iPhone at the time but 4" was really too small for comfort).
I find them hard to believe, but I’ve seen various sources saying 80%+ of teens in the US have iPhones.
https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-irrelevant-among-u-s-...
I bought two Sony a7ii cameras and a flash for only $1400, because they were used. Full price new, it would've been 3600. They work great, and I can use my money on other things. I see very few reasons to buy new electronics, especially given the security of an iPhone and how easily they are reset.
Most people don't think about that, they just think green bubble bad, blue bubble good, but this is one of those rare instances where it's actual technical issues causing the hangup.
In Europe everyone texts on WhatsApp so nobody is left out.
Also it was mostly spam free due to being tied to a phone number.
The price of the phone is split into 24 payments across the standard 2 year contracts from carriers. Failing that, Apple also offers a 1 year interest free loan. So the price of the phone is already taken out of the equation.
May or may not work though. I have a friend that does this, and one of his kids simply cannot save money. So when there's something he knows that they all want, he buys it for all of them rather than make them save for it.
Where does it end though? A phone in one thing; what about a video game console, or pricey sneakers or brand name clothing from the top streetwear brands?
Rvery day I'm feeling a little more grateful that we had school uniforms where I went. The materialist one-upsmanship was insane even then, but at least for 8 hours/day people weren't walking billboards for "look at how much my parents have spent on me".
They don’t use those things to talk to their friends. Think of how many things are digital-first or digital-only these days. Their phone is how they literally exist among their peers in society. It is non-optional.